‘Gangster Squad’ makes for a decent gangland Western

The Old West died hard in the City of Angels. And in the years after World War II, battle-hardened veterans came home to a town “under enemy occupation,” when the only way to fight off the Mob was with a six gun, your two fists and the right hat.

“Gangster Squad” is a gang-war drama built on Western conventions, a rootin’ tootin’, Camel-smokin’, whiskey swillin’ shoot-’em-up about a lawless period in L.A.s’ history when a small cadre of cops, working outside the law, took on Mob boss Mickey Cohen in a fight for “the soul of Los Angeles.”

Never miss a local story.

Anthony Mackie’s the knife-throwing street cop from the black side of town. Robert Patrick is the aged pistolero and holdover from the “real Wild West.” Michael Pena represents the city’s Hispanic underclass, a kid who needs to prove himself. And Giovanni Ribisi is “the brains,” the cop with the glasses and the Army-based knowledge of wiretaps. Emma Stone plays the “dance-hall girl,” the mobster’s young moll “poached” by the handsome Jerry.

“Zombieland” director Ruben Fleischer may not do much with this pictorially that suggests “Western,” but he keeps the characters iconic, the morality straightforward and the action clean. Will Beall’s script is peppered with character “types” — gunsels with scars and World War II-vintage machine guns. Of course Jon Polito shows up, as he has in every gangster period piece since “Miller’s Crossing.”

This “inspired by a true story” tale has much in common with an earlier Nolte fedoras-and-fistfights cop picture, “Mulholland Falls,” named for a hillside where brutal cops sent gangsters tumbling after one of their “Get outta town” lectures.

All in all, “Gangster Squad” is a solid piece of work, and that solid piece of work Brolin anchors it in the kind of square-jawed moral rectitude that makes you wish Hollywood made more real Westerns, just for him. He’s fine in a trenchcoat and fedora. But somebody get that man a horse.

More Videos

Man strips naked, straddles vehicle after car crash

A man was facing multiple charges, police said, after allegedly crashing his car in a multi-vehicle collision, assaulting another man, stripping naked, straddling a vehicle as it drove along a highway, and causing traffic delays on December 11.
The incident happened on Route 28 in Virginia. This footage shows the aftermath of the collision. The man can be seen behaving erratically, and strips naked for a period. He is also seen straddling the headboard frame of a vehicle.
Police said the man was detained for a short time on the grounds of Dulles Airport, after the events in this footage.
“He was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries,” police said. “No one else was injured during the crash or assault. Charges are pending as we are working to identify the suspect.”